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ALRC chairman Peter V’landys.Credit: Getty
“You’ve got to remember this is a human being, like all the rest of us … They might not agree with what he’s done, but you don’t know his perspective. I know the character of the bloke, he’s a good person.”
South Sydney star Mitchell has also been a lightning rod for controversy throughout his career. V’landys revealed his reasons for supporting Lomax.
“I want to get out there what his character is like because he’s painted like this villain – and he’s not,” he said.
“When he first got to St George Illawarra, he was just a fringe first-grader. I got a phone call from someone to say there is a kid with brain cancer who is a mad Dragons supporter – was I able to organise a player to see them?
“We are always happy to do these things behind the scenes, so I rang the club personally and asked them to help me out. They said, ‘No problem, we’ll send an up-and-coming player called Zac Lomax.’
“I was aware of Zac, being a Dragons supporter, and said that would be fantastic. He was only going to be able to stay for half an hour and would drive from Wollongong to Newcastle, which is a three-and-a-half-hour drive, a seven-hour drive all up.
“Zac drove up there and he didn’t spend half an hour, he spent the whole day with the kid. That showed me the character of the bloke. So when he’s copping all this flak, you’ve got to remember there is a human being underneath.”
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In the legal fight between the Eels and Storm, Parramatta is claiming Melbourne was pressuring the NRL to “apply the blow torch” and ensure the 26-year-old was wearing a purple jersey for the season opener.
There have also been calls for the NRL to ban Lomax for 10 years after head office stated that’s the punishment they would mete out to anyone committing to R360.
“Everyone says I’ve done a backflip – I said if they signed a contract and played for them, there would be a 10-year ban,” V’landys said.
“He hasn’t signed a contract – he might have signed an intention – and he hasn’t played for them.
“He’s done neither as far as we’re aware, unless the court case finds something else … the commission hasn’t backflipped.”
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